Polaris Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 474167906
- IRS 990-PF coverage
- 2016–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-PF 2025
- Location
- San Jose, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4086938448
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $-589
- Expenses
- $52,515
Source: IRS Form 990-PF. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Overview
Mission
Human Service Organizations
What it reported funding in 2025
The foundation reported 5 grants totaling $12,000. The stated grant purposes included financial aid to low income students and financial aid for low income students.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. The foundation's positive operating resources came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The foundation distributed 100% of its reported charitable disbursements as grants.
- Includes asset-sale income: Asset-sale income is shown separately from recurring resources when classifying the revenue model.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes to charitable grants and the filing identifies who received its grants. A relatively small share of spending goes to grants and assets provide a limited cushion relative to annual grants.
Rating breakdown
- Grant Deployment: 74
- Cost Efficiency: 23
- Transparency: 100
- Compliance: 98
- Endowment Health: 56
Detailed rating inputs
Grant Deployment
- Grant deployment ratio: 73.9%; rating input score 74; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Cost Efficiency
- Grant expense ratio: 22.9%; rating input score 23; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency
- Grant recipient disclosure: Yes; rating input score 100
Compliance
- Part VII-B activity disclosures: 18 of 19 controls in place; rating input score 95
- Property sale or exchange with a disqualified person: Pass
- Borrowing from or lending to a disqualified person: Pass
- Goods, services, or facilities involving a disqualified person: Pass
- Compensation paid to a disqualified person: Pass
- Assets transferred to a disqualified person: Pass
- Payment to a government official: Pass
- Uncorrected prior self-dealing: Pass
- Prior-year undistributed income: Fail
- Excess business holdings: Pass
- Investments that may jeopardize charitable purposes: Pass
- Uncorrected prior-year jeopardizing investments: Pass
- Attempt to influence legislation: Pass
- Attempt to influence an election: Pass
- Grants to individuals: Pass
- Grants to organizations: Pass
- Spending for a noncharitable purpose: Pass
- Funds received for a personal-benefit contract: Pass
- Premiums paid on a personal-benefit contract: Pass
- Prohibited tax-shelter transaction: Pass
- Filing consistency checks: 10; rating input score 100
Endowment Health
- Endowment-health comparison: 18.15; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Grants: 100% of grant recipient detail disclosed
- Payout: 73.9% grant deployment rate
- Trustees: Filed trustees detail
- Self-dealing: 100% of reviewed questions answered “No”
- Investments: 56th percentile for endowment coverage
- Consistency: 10 of 10 current checks pass
- Schedules: 1 filed schedules
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Cost Efficiency: Grant expense ratio scored 23/100.
- Review — Endowment Health: Endowment-health comparison scored 56/100.
- Review — Compliance: Part VII-B activity disclosures: Prior-year undistributed income not reported.